Sites in the complex of Sultan Qaitbey included in the current project Heritage for the Living in the ‘City of the Dead’ carried our by ARCHiNOS with European Union funding:
Mosque/madrasa of Sultan Qaitbey (monument No 99)
Since 2014, ARCHiNOS has been working on the conservation and adaptation for contemporary use of different components of the vast funerary complex of Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey, completed in 1474. The work has been primarily funded by the European Union. In 2022, we started our direct involvement in the mosque/madrasa and the attached mausoleum of the Sultan at the heart of the complex, a magnificent monument that is a crowning achievement of mature Mamluk style, indigenously developed in Cairo. As the basis of any conservation work, we produced a complete architectural survey of the structure. In 2022 -2024, with funding from the U.S. Ambasssadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, ARCHiNOS carried out a full conservation of the mausoleum.
In 2024-25, with the European Union funding, we carried out preliminary work on the lower-level funerary courtyard, which besides auxiliary burials includes large turned-wood screens of extraordinary quality. The ultimate purpose of the work is to enable access to the mausoleum, which is not used for religious purpose, independently of the operating mosque. This will result in better accessibility and allow for a more meaningful presentation.
We keep seeking funding for the full conservation of the mosque/madrasa and its minaret.
Sultan’s Rest House (listed with No 100)
When Sultan Qaitbey erected his funerary complex in the early 1470s, he constructed accommodations where he could stay with his entourage when he visited the cemetery. Of these, the grand reception hall elevated over storerooms (maq‘ad) has been preserved relatively intact and after conservation by ARCHiNOS is now used as a hub for art, culture, and education in the neighbourhood. The other sections of the residential unit located next to the mausoleum of Gulshani fell in disrepair and when the project commenced were a tract of land filled with ruins covered with thick layers of rubble and garbage.
In 2018, the area has been cleared of rubble and refuse, and many ruined structures provisionally protected structurally. The clearing was done under supervision of the British archaeologist Daniel Jones by a team experienced in excavation work, while the Egyptian authorities commissioned clearing of an adjoining area to the Arab Contractors company. Structural reinforcements followed, as some ruined structures were in dramatic condition. The scope of work was extended to the adjacent structures earlier than Sultan Qaitbey’s complex: the tombs of Amir Mankalibuga and one known as Ibn Ghurab’s, both of which were endangered with imminent collapse, but have now been fully conserved.
The work includes rendering the area safe for visitation by structural repairs to the remaining structures, treating the pieces of architecture that are in need of conservation, landscape of the site as a permanent ruin and providing informational signage. The objective is to open the area as a public space, with the dual purpose: to make it useful for the local community so it does not revert to the status of a garbage dump, and to attract more visitors by improving the overall appeal of the Qaitbey’s complex as a cultural tourism destination.
The ”Sabil” of Qaitbey (No 412)
The small building located about 50 metres south of the madrasa and tomb of Sultan Qaitbey is mysterious and baffling. Located close to the southern gate of the complex, it is masterfully built of stone, covered with a flat stone dome, and has an arcade of two stone arches attached to its side. It has been listed in the index of monuments (with No 412) as a sabil, a type of building very popular in Cairo, housing a charity that distributed free drinking water to passers-by. Indeed, the structure features large rectangular windows on the street level, like those from which water in mugs was handed out in all contemporary sabils. However, a study conducted by ARCHiNOS showed decisively that this building has no underground cistern that was a necessary part of a sabil, and no traces of any water conduits or water installations whatsoever. In contrast, an almost identical building in the northern part of the same complex was certainly a sabil and includes a cistern and other typical elements. The original purpose of the structure listed as No 412 remains a mystery. Whatever was distributed from it, it wasn’t water.
As ARCHiNOS project started in February 2018, the building was abandoned and disused, with serious structural deficiencies. The roof over the arcade missing, as was part of the southern wall. In 2018 a full architectural survey has been completed, to record existing conditions and as a basis for designing conservation and adaptive re-use.
As the initial plan to adapt the building for a basic medical facility turned out not to be feasible, ARCHiNOS keeps looking for the best ways to make the building serve the community again.
The Water-wheel (listed with No 183)
The funerary complexes in the ‘City of the Dead’ in Cairo were not just tombs and places of worship, but also housed considerable numbers of people: Sufis residing in their convents, students, and numerous service personnel. They were provided with various service installations including elaborate sewage disposal and water supply systems. Remnants of a water-wheel and a huge water-storage tank remain to the north of the madrasa and tomb of Sultan Qaitbey. They used to serve the hawd (animal drinking-trough) that is partially preserved as monument No 183, probably the ablution area of the mosque, and possibly other areas too. Originally, these installations were located at the back of a huge communal residential building that once adjoined the mosque to the north. By the end of the 19th century, the building was dilapidated, and was demolished in the 1900s by the Commite de Conservation des Monuments de l’Art Arabe. Parts of the stone-built vaulted chambers on the ground floor of that building have been preserved as permanent ruin. The water-wheel and tank area behind are severely dilapidated and in dangerous structural condition.
Full documentation including architectural survey has been produced. It is intended to open the area as a public space to prevent its use for a garbage dump. Its location makes it a natural extension of the square in front of the mosque of Qaitbey and it has the advantage of being free of vehicles. In what was once a back courtyard, the remnants of the water-wheel are a potential tourist attraction. The very large, well-constructed well and the remnants of animal-driven machinery for drawing water from it are an interesting example of mediaeval technology that was carried over unchanged from the ancient times.
Opening the area to the public requires restoring structural safety to the remaining walls and making the well and the remnants of the water wheel secure for visitors.
Commenced in July 2018 – ongoing
Project Director: Agnieszka Dobrowolska
Project funded by the European Union 2014 – 2025